Player Ratings: Maribor 0 – 7 Liverpool FC

Jack Hallows makes his long-awaited return to rate the players after a mammoth 7-0 victory against Maribor in the Champions League.

That feels good honestly.

The Reds have been creating chances left, right and centre in the Champions League this season but haven’t been putting them away with anywhere near enough regularity, so to see Firmino tap home from 6 yards just minutes after the first whistle was a relief to say the least.

What followed however, was pure magic.

Loris Karius: 7 – After his gaff against Spartak in the last round of fixtures when he failed to deal with a seemingly saveable free kick it will have been a huge boost for the German to keep a clean sheet. Didn’t have much to do in truth but his distribution was good and he was alert when called upon.

Trent Alexander-Arnold: 7.5 – Grabbed his second goal for the club to put some gloss on an already incredible scoreline late on and cut a composed, mature figure throughout. It’s games like this where he really comes to the fore.

Joel Matip: 7 – Can’t fault him as while he didn’t have huge amounts to actively do, he did what he had to with composure.

Dejan Lovren: 7 – Same as Matip really. Was a little more eager than his partner to saunter forward on occasion and you can’t blame him.

Alberto Moreno: 7 – He just seems to keep getting better and better with each passing game. Solid when he had to be and displayed impressive game intelligence when going forward, putting Salah’s second on a plate for the Egyptian.

Emre Can: 7 – Pinged one wayward ball out of play early on but other than that it was a dominant 90 minutes from the German whose pace, power and strength were all on display.

Gini Wijnaldum: 6.5 – I felt he had his best game of the season on Saturday against Manchester United and while he was far quieter against the Slovenian side, he still put in a solid shift.

James Milner: 8.5 – Made a real case for himself against the Slovenian side, bringing maturity and composure to the Reds’ midfield and surprisingly, a little extra creativity. His pinpoint cross allowed Coutinho to fire home Liverpool’s second and as always, his work rate was top notch.

Mohamed Salah: 8 – The Egyptian has been labelled as “deadly but wasteful” this season but he was only half of this against Maribor, putting them to the sword with a first half double and putting Firmino’s first on a plate for the Brazilian. What a player.

Roberto Firmino: 8.5 – Hadn’t scored in five matches for the Reds but was on the score sheet in the opening 5 minutes before notching a second just under an hour later. Is an absolute joy to watch when he’s on form and on another day he could’ve had four.

Philippe Coutinho: 8 – Surely anyone calling for him to be sold during the summer is eating their words by now. The Brazilian was in electrifying form once again, assisting two and scoring one himself. There can’t be many better dribblers in the Premier League currently.

Substitutes:

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 7 – Came close to opening his Liverpool account just a minute after being brought on but didn’t have to wait too long for his first goal in the club’s – alternate – colours. An encouraging display after an impressive cameo on Saturday.

Daniel Sturridge: 6 – Looked sluggish and off the pace in a game where really, you’d have expected to see his name on the score sheet.

Jürgen Klopp: 8 – You can’t really fault the boss when we’ve just won 7-0 thanks to 90 minutes of fast passing moves, counter-pressing and deadly finishing. Perhaps would’ve liked to see him make some substitutions earlier to afford his mainstays extra rest but that’s just nitpicking.